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Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

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Famous Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

“After the first shock of recognition - a sudden sense of "this is what I'm going to write" - the novel starts to breed by itself; the process goes on solely in the mind, not on paper. I feel a kind of gentle development, an uncurling inside, and I know that the details are there already, that in fact I would see them plainly if I looked closer, but I prefer to wait until what is loosely called inspiration has completed the task for me.”

IfsKnowsFeelsWritingMindFirstsKindFactsInspirationWaitingProcessNovelGoes OnDevelopmentPaperTasksDetailsRecognitionGentleShock
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
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“Literature, real literature, must not be gulped down like some potion which may be good for the heart or good for the brain—the brain, that stomach of the soul. Literature must be taken and broken to bits, pulled apart, squashed—then its lovely reek will be smelt in the hollow of the palm, it will be munched and rolled upon the tongue with relish; then, and only then, its rare flavor will be appreciated at its true worth and the broken and crushed parts will again come together in your mind and disclose the beauty of a unity to which you have contributed something of your own blood.”

MindHeartMayRealSoulTogetherLiteratureBitsBrainTakenBloodBrokenUnityTongueBe GoodLovelyStomachPalmsFlavorAppreciatedHollowCrushedRelishTrue Worth
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
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“There are two kinds of visual memory: one when you skillfully recreate an image in the laboratory of your mind, with your eyes open (and then I see Annabel in such general terms as: "honey-colored skin," "thin arms," "brown bobbed hair," "long lashes," "big bright mouth"); and the other when you instantly evoke, with shut eyes, on the dark innerside of your eyelids, the objective, absolutely optical replica of a beloved face, a little ghost in natural colors (and this is how I see Lolita).”

MindKindLittlesLongTwoBigsEyeFacesTermNaturalMemoriesDarkColorHairArmsMouthsSkinsGhostObjectivesBelovedVisualsBrownHoneyLaboratoryEvokeLashesEyelidsReplicaLong Lashes
Book:The Annotated Lolita: Revised and Updated
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“My Lolita remarked: "You know, what's so dreadful about dying is that you are completely on your own"; and it struck me, as my automaton knees went up and down, that I simply did not know a thing about my darling's mind and that quite possibly, behind the awful juvenile cliches, there was in her a garden and a twilight, and a palace gate - dim and adorable regions which happened to be lucidly and absolutely forbidden to me, in my polluted rags and miserable convulsions.”

KnowsMindBehindsHappenedDyingGardenAwfulMiserableKneesRegionsGatesTwilightForbiddenUp And DownPalacesDarlingClicheRagsAdorableJuvenile
Book:The Annotated Lolita: Revised and Updated
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